Just another technical yaddayadda

Menu

About

My name is Mārtiņš Barinskis, and I am a software developer. This site is a place where I write something that me and some of my fellow Internet citizens may find interesting.

Well, what do I find interesting then? Many things – from cooking to history books, but on this site you will find only articles related to software engineering and development. This is what I do for living and that is what I do the best and sometimes might want to call myself an “expert” in.

I love programming and building stuff. I also love fairness, openness and collaboration – things that the Free and Open Source software movement is based upon. I choose working with free operating systems and tools, although sometimes one has to make certain compromises, for example: I like the Java technology however I realize it is not an entirely free (as in freedom of speech) software, however one cannot deny that Java boasts of many useful mature and stable free libraries programmed for it.

I consider myself a UI, a frontend developer rather than a server-side or systems developer. It’s not that I am not able to do systems programming (till certain extent of course), it’s just the idea that UI development is much more interesting and challenging – you have a moving target, which is not predictable where it will go and what is going to do next – a human being, your end user.

Yes, I build UI stuff, mostly websites and internal web applications. I loveHTML5 and the ideas behind it. I also like the desktop development using various technologies like C++, Python or .NET/Mono. I have been a Linux user for several years now.

What I don’t like about the IT industry is assigning people to certain roles and not allowing to show their heads out – all these corporate positions like “Java programmer”, “Web programmer”, “C++ programmer” etc. You really understand software development if you are able to choose the “right tool for the right job” to achieve a great result, not just a “working” result.

That’s what I am passionate about in IT: engineering stuff that people would love to use and so many opportunities of stepping out of my comfort zone to learn new things.